The present invention relates to a reading light assembly for a vehicle comprising a mounting element and a lamp housing. The mounting element is adapted for mounting the reading light assembly in a vehicle. The lamp housing includes a light source and is mounted to the mounting element such that it can be rotated about a first axis with respect to the mounting element and tilted about a second axis with respect to the mounting element. The invention further relates to a reading light system and an aircraft comprising a reading light system.
Reading light assemblies or, in short, reading lights for passengers traveling in public transport vehicles such as trains or aircraft are well known in the prior art. Similar reading lights are also known, for example, from cars. The reading lights are usually installed over each seat to provide individual lighting for a person sitting in the seat. A control is provided either directly at the reading lights or at the seats which a passenger can use to switch the light on or off. Onboard aircraft the reading lights are often installed in so-called passenger service units (PSU) which additionally comprise, for example, speakers and oxygen supply masks.
At least onboard aircraft and in trains, passengers can only control the reading light by switching it on or off. It is, in particular, usually not possible to alter the direction of the cone of light of the reading lights, i.e., its focus. However, altering the direction of the reading light is often requested by passengers to optimize the illumination of, e.g., books or to avoid disturbing other passengers. Past experience has, however, shown that providing vehicles with adjustable reading lights that can be manually adjusted by passengers increases the workload for the operating personnel of the vehicle considerably as all reading lights have to be re-adjusted after each trip. Therefore, commonly reading lights cannot be adjusted by passengers. Hence, there appears to be a needed to provide reading lights that can be adjusted by passengers without making it necessary that they are moved back to a default position one by one.
Even when the reading lights cannot be adjusted by passengers, during assembly of an aircraft, for example, in the final assembly line, and every time an aircraft has undergone major maintenance operations in the cabin, all reading lights have to be adjusted manually. To adjust the orientation of the reading lights a cover from the PSU has to be removed, every reading light has to be adjusted using a special tool, and the cover has to be put back into place afterwards. Considerable amounts of manual labor time are required only for adjusting the orientation of the reading lights. Hence, there also appears to be a need to improve the positioning of the reading lights during manufacture and after maintenance of aircraft cabins.